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June 11, 2019

Hidden Witnesses

Dear Friends,

Sometimes the best witnesses are hidden in plain sight.

Slovenia and the Czech Republic are both famous for a lack of knowledge of the gospel. In spite of a population of 2 million, Slovenia has only 2,000 evangelical believers, and Czech is considered the most atheistic nation on earth.

Yet, both have national heroes from over 400 years ago who are finding their voice again today.

Jan Amos Comenius was considered the father of modern education and brought a radical reformation to the school system in Czech in the early 1600’s. More Czech schools are named after him than any other person, and his bearded face fills the front of the Czech 200 crown bill.

However, few Czechs know that Comenius was first an evangelical pastor, and considered the primary aim of education to bring young people into a living relationship with Jesus Christ. What if students in schools across the country could hear the rest of his story?

This is the vision of Comenius 2020, an initiative led by JV staff in cooperation with a team of Czech evangelical educators. They are designing special curriculum to be distributed to all of the schools in Czech to celebrate the work of Comenius—and tell the story of his faith in Christ.

We expect that this initiative will reach over 25,000 unbelieving students during the next two years. Because the curriculum teaches historical information about a national hero, the doors are wide open to schools for his gospel message. The voice of Comenius is witnessing to his beloved country once again!

The face of another national hero fills the front of the Slovenian version of the one Euro coin. Primoz Trubar was born in 1508 and became the first to reduce the Slovene language to writing—in order to give his people the Bible. His linguistic contributions are celebrated today, but few know that he was a protestant reformer who called his countrymen to the truth of God’s Word and living faith in Jesus.

More know that today, after a special musical telling his life story was written by one of our Slovene JV staff and performed in 9 cities last fall to enthusiastic audiences totaling over 2,000 people. Some wept when they heard the gospel through the voice of their national hero—a message they never knew was his.

Our JV team is tirelessly working to bring the gospel to Central and Eastern Europe through every possible means. Thanks for helping us bring lost witnesses to life.

Dave Patty President

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